Every Adult Has An Inner Child
by HaZvisions
Summary: After the late celebration of Kondo's engagement to Otae, the Shinsengumi Commander (after 3 glasses of beer) and First Division Captain (after 1.5 glasses of beer) passed out. The tired Vice-Commander drags Kondo home in a taxi but falls asleep before he could return for Sougo. Sougo wakes up to find out that he drank a youth potion and has now turned into a child...


**Warning:** Contains coarse language and sexual tension. Also posted on Wattpad.

* * *

"Idiot! Watch where you're going." Sougo shouted, without any idea who was in front of him.

He had rushed out of the bar entrance, focusing on one destination, Snack Smile. He was blinded by the morning light and bumped into a pair of feminine legs in the process. His eyes were still trying to adjust to the outside world. Once he could properly see ahead of him, he noticed a pair of blue eyes looking down on him. The same eyes that had been haunting his dreams since last week.

"Kid, didn't your parents teach you any manners? You're supposed to apologize after bumping into someone." Kagura leaned forward with one hand on her knees and the other hand reaching out to him.

Sougo slapped her hand away in disgust before wiping away the dirt on the clothes he borrowed, then standing on his own two feet. Kagura found it funny how time flies. If she had been four years younger, she would have pummeled the kid already.

"I don't apologize to just anyone. Especially, not to someone younger than me." Sougo provoked.

Kagura tried to stay calm, reminding herself that she was already an adult, inside and out.

"First of all, I am NOT a kid. YOU are. I'm already eighteen. And second of all, what are you doing in the red-light district? This is a playground for adults NOT kids."

"I could say the same thing. The last time I checked, the legal age of an adult is twenty NOT eighteen."

"Touché, kid. Touché." Kagura acknowledged her defeat. She made a mental note that the little boy not only looked like a mini version of Sadist, but he also acted like him.

"Would your dad happen to be the First Division Captain of the Shinsengumi?" She inquired, wondering if the Sadist had a child that she didn't know about.

"Huh? Who are you talking about?" The boy looked puzzled, hoping to steer her away from his real identity. She would've avoided him if she knew after the misunderstanding between them.

"Never mind." She was probably overthinking things. "I'm getting off-topic. How 'bout we both call it even and head home? I'm tired from working all night so be a good little boy and go back to bed."

She turned her head to walk into the direction of her home at the exact moment that Sougo placed some dirt in his eye. Kagura felt a tug at her kimono when she took her first step. She looked back at the boy, expecting another snide remark, perhaps about her appearance this time. Instead, she saw tears falling from his eyes which quickly increased to a full-blown tantrum. She lowered herself to his eye-level, trying to find a way to stop him.

"Wait. Are you lost?" She asked frantically. "Where's your house?"

"Mommy! I missed you!" Sougo cried out, loud enough for all the bystanders and businesses to hear.

"Huh?" Kagura looked around her, hoping that the boy was referring to another lady behind her. Her suspicions were confirmed when the little boy ran up to hug her neck.

"Mommy! I thought you weren't coming back."

"C'mon. He's not actually-" She started, but was drowned out by the voices of the people who started to gather around them. She heard several phrases like "She's too young to be a mother", "How could she leave her child?", "Is she human or a monster?" and "Where's the father?".

She did the only rational thing left to do when she was too tired to fight back. She used the last of her strength to carry kid with one arm while making a path with her umbrella at the same time, causing some people to be thrown into the air from impact. She ran full speed home, the only safe place she could think of at the moment.

She slid the door to the Yorozuya shut after putting her umbrella and the kid on the ground. She peeled off her boots and sweaty socks before slumping down on the nearest wall of their hallway. She removed the wooden hairpiece holding her bun together so she could have an easier time leaning on the wall. Her eyes closed as she tried to recover some of her energy. She opened them again to see a few loose strands of her vermillion hair dangling in front of her eyes and a kid hiccupping as an aftermath of his long cry. It seemed that he finally calmed down, but she was the opposite of calm.

"What the hell was that about, kid? I don't remember giving birth to such a troublesome brat like you. I'm obviously NOT your mother! And now all those people think I'm a bad one. What am I supposed to do if the rumours affect my new job?" She exploded, increasing a decibel at every sentence.

The little boy stood still, except for his occasional breathing spasm. His eyes were fixated on the wooden panels of the floor.

"I-I don't have any parents." He started to explain. "I'm an orphan and I've lived on the streets for as long as I can remember-"

It wasn't a complete lie that he told. He had no family left and he often roamed the streets, but that was due to his line of work as a police officer.

Kagura pulled his sleeve towards her and hugged him tight, completely trapping him in her chest. She had just fallen for his convincing act.

"I'm sorry. So sorry for your loss. I shouldn't have exploded like that. I know how you feel so if you'd like, you can call this place your home now."

"I'd like that, Ch-"

"Welcome back, Kagura-chan! And what's with all the noise?" Shinpachi shouted from the kitchen. His head popped out from the kitchen entrance. He was surprised to see the little boy with swollen eyes next to Kagura.

"Wha-Kagura! Did you bully that kid?"

"No. Well. Sort of? It's a long story. But can he live here with us? He doesn't have a home or parents."

"I'd like to say 'yes', but we barely have enough money to feed the four of us, including Sadaharu and your monstrous appetite."

"Pretty please!" Kagura accompanied her long "please" with a set of puppy eyes she learned from the women's magazines she read while waiting for Gin-chan to buy his Jump. It said that this technique worked well at bending any man's will. Megane was a cherry boy. She was 100% sure it would work on him.

"Fine." Megane sighed, wiping his hands on his apron, before bending down to be at eye-level with the kid. "Hi. I'm Shinpachi."

"The housemaid." Kagura coughed.

"One of the Yorozuya members." he corrected. "I cook and clean only when we don't have jobs. You can call me onii-chan."

"Or Megane." Kagura inserted once again.

"We'll have to talk to Gin-san later about having you stay here. But for now, make yourself at home. Oh, I forgot to ask for your name."

"I don't have one but the neighbourhood kids call me Sou cause I'm good at running away in Kick-The-Can. Is the food ready?" Sou-kun asked innocently. "I'm starved, Megane-niichan."

Kagura grinned and patted Sou-kun's head, glad she found someone with the same sense of humour as her. Megane was visibly irked at his new nickname.

"Glad to see you already feel at home. Breakfast is ready, but, I can't have dirty hands at the table. Why don't you take a bath first while I fetch some of my old clothes at my house? Kagura-chan will show you the way to the bathroom."

* * *

"Sou-kun, do you mind if we took a bath together?" Kagura asked after taking a peek at the bathtub filled with hot water and her favorite sakura petals that Shinpachi painstakingly picked for her return from work at this ungodly hour. She was in dire need of a bath after her run in with Sou-kun, the mischievous little boy who resembled Sadist, only smaller.

That statement caught Sou-kun off-guard, causing him to inhale some steam and enter into a fit of coughs. He was glad that China was so innocent, especially at times like these. She had already started untying her yellow obi before listening to his reply.

"Sure." he answered indifferently, after regaining his composure. "It saves water, doesn't it?"

"Good. I'll wash your back if you'll wash mine, then."

He had just removed the hakama he borrowed from the bar owner and only had the kimono left to take off before he could start to wash his hair on the wooden stool by the bathtub, using the shampoo and conditioner beside it, which he assumed Megane had set up for China. He decided to take his sweet time undressing himself to watch Kagura's figure in the steam, carefully remove each article of clothing that she borrowed.

He assumed that they came from her anego at Snack Smile as they weren't her usual qipao and pants, but instead, a short red kimono that hugged her body tight and exposed more skin than he'd like the others to see. Even though he couldn't see much, he didn't know if he could encounter another moment like this again so he wanted to savor every minute of it. Without her knowledge, of course.

Kagura grabbed two white towels from the shelf after undressing, folding her clothes and setting them by the sink. She wrapped a towel around herself and gave the other one to Sou-kun, who gladly accepted the towel to keep his erect manhood hidden from view.

"I thought you might be coming down with a cold when you coughed earlier, so here. Just in case." Kagura was openly concerned about him, unaware that she was the cause of his "cold" earlier.

Kagura offered to wash his hair, casually mentioning that she had always wanted a younger sibling to take care of since she only hung out with adults, mainly careless, lazy and jobless ones.

Sou-kun consented with one condition, that she wouldn't use her full strength on him to "accidentally" peel off his skin, break his bones or cause any other bodily harm. Kagura promised, mentioning that she didn't hurt brats that couldn't hit her back.

"If you had asked me four years ago, you wouldn't be so lucky after that stunt you pulled this morning." She warned him.

Once they had taken turns washing each others' backs and hair, Sou-kun leisurely stepped into the bathtub filled with the now lukewarm water, claiming a corner of the rectangular tub as his own. Kagura followed suit, sitting cross-legged diagonally across from him. Each with their towels wrapped around them.

Without any knowledge of the time, they casually chatted away with Kagura doing most of the talking and Sou-kun replying with grunts or insults every so often to signal that he was still listening to her, even though his mind was busy trying to find ways to get his body back to normal and stealing glances at her exposed skin.

She gave him tips about what to expect when living with them, warning him about the do's and don'ts at the Yorozuya. After awhile, she found herself going off topic, mentioning a list of places she wanted to take him today like anego's house, the soba shop, the store that sells her sukonbu and ultimately, the park, where she often runs into the Sadist. She recalled their last fight. It ended badly, in terms of emotions rather than physical injuries, at least for her.

* * *

 _The fight started with their usual rally of name-calling and exchanging of blows. When he mentioned that she was still a child even at her age, she smugly declared that she was going to work as anego's replacement at Snack Smile since her anego's plan was to become a housewife-slash-dojo instructor after her wedding with the persistent Gorilla who surprisingly had qualities she admired beyond his large salary and hairy ass._

 _Sadist's sword narrowly missed her head and hit the bark of the tree behind her. She froze as his aura became more ominous than usual. She wondered what had possessed him at the moment, completely clueless to the fact that Sougo wouldn't allow anyone to take away "his plaything" as he always called her._

 _While lost in her thoughts, he sped up to close the distance between them. Her body slammed on the tree behind her. Before she could react, he had already trapped her. She felt him tip her chin up with one hand while his other hand locked her hands above her head. His piercing red eyes analyzed every detail of her face._

 _"Does Danna know about this?"_

 _He took her silence as confirmation that this new job of hers was a secret. She only told Gin that anego had hired her as a bodyguard at Snack Smile, not as a hostess. He wouldn't have allowed her to freely set foot outdoors if he knew. Sometimes, he played the part of an overprotective dad too well._

 _"You could never please anyone." He continued. "You're just a brat."_

 _"What I do is none of your business!"_

 _She spat on his face, hoping to inflict a part of the pain that she felt hurt at his words. Even a small fragment of it. Their relationship had never really changed since they first met. She had been trying to find the right time to confess, but if this was how he really felt about her, then she was going to stop taking it easy on him._

 _He removed his hand from her chin in order to wipe away the spit on his face. She took this chance to make her escape. She used the full strength of her Yato lineage to head-butt him._

 _"There's something wrong with your head, Sadist, if you can't see a good catch staring you in the face." She yelled as she ran further away. "You should go see a doctor! I'm sure you're already mentally ill."_

* * *

She had ignored him since the incident, going as far as hiding behind benches, trees, garbage cans and streetlights when passing through her favourite place, the park.

"That Sadist. I wish I could split his head open just to see what's going on in his head." Kagura split the air with her right hand, imagining the Sadist's head in front of her.

She pulled her hand back, noticing the skin on her fingers had wrinkled up like prunes.

"I think it's time to get out of the bath. I don't want my skin looking like the wrinkles on the Old Hag's face."

Kagura abruptly stood up. She hadn't realized that her legs had gone numb from sitting cross-legged for an hour. She let out a scream as she fell forward, aware that she couldn't stop herself in time. She closed her eyes, expecting an impact that never came.

Lifting one eye open, she saw her towel undone and Sou-kun underneath her, cushioning her fall. Although, he was too small to lift her up, she was grateful that he had saved her. A Yato had great healing abilities, but that didn't mean that she liked the inflicted pain.

"Gee, nee-chan. I didn't know you liked little boys enough to throw yourself at me." Sou-kun teased, speaking in between her bosom with his hands securely around her bare waist.

Kagura didn't have time to retaliate when two other voices were heard in the room.

"Kagura-chan!" Gintoki burst open the door to the bathroom, worry evident in his voice.

"Are you hurt!?" Shinpachi asked from behind Gintoki, equally worried.

The boy-girl pair looked at the two new occupants in the room. Kagura wondered how she was going to explain this compromising situation to them once the steam let up. It didn't take long before Gintoki and Shinpachi could see what the steam hid and the accusations were fired at Kagura.

"Wha-K-K-Ka-gura-chan! Gintoki stammered. "I didn't know you liked Sougo-kun so much that you'd hit on anyone that looked like him."

Gintoki ducked in time to avoid the stool thrown by Kagura, however, the stool only changed its target to Shinpachi's face.

"One. I am NOT hitting on this kid. Two. Don't ever mention that name again. You know I hate him!" Kagura yelled after tightening her towel and lifting herself out of the tub. She stood up, grabbing the boy by his shoulders and turning his head towards Gintoki.

"Okay. Then, whose kid is this?" Gintoki asked. "Sofa-kun's illegitimate child?"

"No. His name is Sou-kun and he's an orphan. No home. No parents." Kagura started. "So... Can we keep him?"

"Huh? Are you crazy? Why would I add another kid when I already have you two to deal with?" Gintoki flared his arms about during his big speech, exaggerating his words but Kagura knew how to handle him.

"I'll buy you sweets with the money from my new job."

"Deal."

"That was fast." Kagura noted.

"As the saying goes, sugar makes the world go round." Gintoki sang in a singsong voice.

"Actually, it's 'money'. And the only thing 'going round' is your belly." Shinpachi lectured. "The doctor's been telling you to stop your sugar intake. You've already cut your life in half with the five parfaits you eat every day."

"Hah. I don't care if I die tomorrow. At least I'll die eating what I love."

"Really? Does Tsukki know that?" Kagura teased.

"Huh, What's this about?" Shinpachi asked, feeling left out.

"Tch." Gintoki clicked his tongue as he made his way through the bathroom exit. "Nothing a cherry boy needs to know about."

Shinpachi chased him but Gintoki never spoke about the incident. He was regretting coming home drunk every morning. At some point, his loose lips must've let out his secret of visiting Yoshiwara every night.

Kagura smiled as she watched Gintoki leave, claiming her victory for certain. This was her way of threatening him. She was going to tell Tsukki about his feelings in case he backs out of his word later.

* * *

After the quintet ate lunch together, Shinpachi and Gintoki disappeared for a job request while Kagura took the day off as she was eager to show Sou-kun around. Her first stop was anego's house. She thought that visiting after a big meal would be their excuse to avoid eating anego's black matter.

"Good afternoon, anego!" Kagura announced herself, removing her shoes at the door while motioning for Sou-kun to do the same.

"Oh, my. It's Kagura-chan." Otae greeted. "We weren't expecting company today."

"We? Is Gori-san here?" Kagura asked. "I don't want to be a third wheel."

"No, you haven't met him yet. Kouichi-kun, come show yourself." Otae ordered, facing the living room.

A head of spiky brown hair poked out from the open shoji door. The little boy appeared sucking on his thumb, also wearing some of Shinpachi's old clothes.

"Hi," he shyly greeted as he hid behind Otae. Kagura noted the slight resemblance he had to Kondo. He looked to be around four years old, a bit younger than Sou-kun.

"Isn't he cute?" Otae inquired.

"Yeah," Kagura answered. "Like a baby gorilla."

"That's exactly what I thought. I was going to call him Gori too, but that name's already taken. When he told me he was an orphan, I wanted to adopt him. I thought it would help me practice becoming a mother."

"What a coincidence, Sou-chan here is the same and I just took him in." Kagura pushed Sou-chan forward and forced him to bow in front of her most respected elder.

"Kouichi-kun, why don't you and Sou-kun play in the courtyard? Kagura-chan and I have some talking to do."

The two ladies didn't see Sou-kun's sinister smile right before the two boys headed outdoors to play. The sight of Kondo-san caused him to recall the recent events that led up to his strange transformation.

The two adults settled themselves by the table. They were watching the children play a friendly game with a hockey sack as they ate the snacks that Shinpachi brought ahead of time until Otae broke the silence.

"Kagura-chan, I know this is sudden, but you've been fired. Not only from our bar, but from the entire red-light district."

"What! Why?"

"You see, the incident this morning caused a lot of bad rumours to spread about you. Mainly that you were a horrible single mother who abandoned her child."

"But- That's all a lie. And you know it!"

"Let me finish. There's a rule in Kabuki-cho that forbids a mother from working as a hostess. It's not good for business cause customers don't like that. And when word gets around here, everyone believes it, whether it's true or not. I'm sorry Kagura-chan. There's nothing I can do. They've already found another replacement for me."

Kagura wanted to scream, but she didn't want to lose composure in front of anego, the one who taught her how to handle herself as a proper lady. And a proper lady would handle this situation calmly. She just needed a new job if she wanted to keep Sou-kun, the reason for her current unemployment.

She knew he acted selfishly, but she didn't blame him, though. Instead, she empathized with him. He had always been alone without anyone to spoil him until she came around.

"Sou-kun, let's go!" Kagura called out to the little boy who had just kicked the hockey sack into Kouichi-kun's genitals.

It was a little taste of his revenge. If he hadn't gone out with Kondo-san that night, he wouldn't have turned into a kid. On the bright side, he was glad that his plan to get China banned from working in the red-light district was a success.

"Bye. Bye. Ko-chan!" Sou-kun waved.

"Have fun with your date," he added in a quieter tone, finishing the sentence off with wide eyes and a sadistic smile, hidden from the women's view as his back was turned at the moment.

Sou-kun raced off to Kagura's side while Kouichi-kun stayed bent over on the ground, holding his aching lower half.

"Thank you for telling me, anego." Kagura bowed. "I think it's time to leave. I'll need to look for a new job now."

Otae apologized once again as she hugged Kagura. Otae's attention quickly changed to the kneeling Kouichi-kun.

"Kouichi-kun, what did I tell you about playing with balls?"

Kagura took this opportunity to leave with Sou-kun right behind her. The dejected Kagura tried to stay optimistic in front of Sou-kun who overheard the bad news. She wanted to spend the rest of the day with him and decided to start job-hunting tomorrow instead.

* * *

After they placed their dinner under Gintoki's growing tab at the soba shop he frequently visited, they went to Kagura's favorite place, the playful children had all left to eat their dinner at their houses.

Kagura opted to sit under an oak tree, far enough from the bench where she usuall met Sadist. She was still foolishly hoping to get a glimpse of him, despite their last argument. She just wanted to take her mind off of things and channeling her anger in a fight with him would be the best opportunity to do so.

As time passed, she grew increasingly weary. Her eyelids became heavier and heavier with every passing hour until they fully closed. Her bizarre dream started out with the ingredients: fried chicken, crab, Gin-chan's parfait and anego's favorite Häagen-Dazs. All those things fell into a cauldron, turning the liquid inside of it completely black. She found herself swallowed by the pot and placed into the same scene as her last fight with Sadist.

Kagura bolted up straight, her heart pounding and sweat covering her face. She had almost died from Sadist's sword in her dreams. The covering around her had fallen to the ground. It was Shinpachi's old hanten, the same jacket he lent to Sou-kun.

"Seems like someone had a wet dream." Sou-kun teased.

Kagura turned to the owner of the voice, the little boy had his arms crossed as he sat cross-legged at the base of the oak tree. He was wide awake, guarding her in her sleep.

She noted the full moon that lit up the dark sky, along with the little boy's features making him seem older than he really was. She had to rub her eyes to make sure that it wasn't Sadist that she was actually seeing.

"Oh, it's just you." She breathed out. "More like a nightmare."

"You seem disappointed. Sad to see I'm not Sadist?"

"How'd you know?"

"You were just calling out his name more times than I can count on my fingers."

"Oh." Kagura shied away. "I think it's time to head home. Megane and Gin-chan must be worried about us by now."

She changed the subject and Sou-kun let it drop, he was feeling irritated and guilty for causing China pain and not the good kind. He would've already told her, but it's not like she would believe him without any definitive proof and if she did, their almost non-existent relationship would really end. He just needed to get his body back to normal and make things right with her again. For now, he'd follow her and make sure she didn't take any disgraceful jobs.

* * *

The two snuck into the Yorozuya past midnight, making sure not to make any loud noises to wake up Sadaharu in the living room or Gin-chan in his room. They settled into the closet that doubled as Kagura's room, sharing a blanket and positioning themselves with their backs facing each other.

"Isn't this closet too small? I can't believe you can fit in here."

"Psht. Get used to it, kid. This is going to be your room now. Once you get bigger, I'll sleep on the couch with Sadaharu and you'll-" She yawned in between. "-use this room..." Kagura explained before dozing off again.

"Or you can move in with me after I get back to normal." Sou-kun thought out loud.

His mind wandered away to dreamland as his exhaustion finally took a toll on him. He had gone a full twenty-four hours since his last nap.

When morning came, they were both facing each other. Sou-kun woke up first. He remembered China dropping the blanket on her side and reaching out to him for warmth as she was too lazy to get the blanket.

He studied her sleeping face, wondering how she could go back to sleep so soon after her long nap at the park. He removed the stray locks from her face, he loved how angelic she looked when she wasn't spouting such dirty words from her mouth. His gaze fell at her lips.

He had already seen all of her, but he still wanted more. He had the urge to kiss ever since their last fight and maybe something more, at their bath yesterday.

He knew this was a cheap shot, but maybe he could try it out as trial run for the real thing. After all, he had never kissed anyone before, excluding that one incident with the Mayo bastard. Sou-kun leaned in closer, hoping to finally put an end to his delusions when he heard footsteps by the door.

"Kagura-chan. Sou-kun."

Sou-kun grabbed the first thing within reach, his pillow and aimed it at the sliding door. The door opened and Shinpachi dodged it in time. His experience of dodging Kagura's attacks for years was finally paying off.

"It's time for breakfast. I guess, it's lunch at this point." Shinpachi greeted them happily.

"Don't you have chores to do, Megane-niichan?" Sou-kun smiled innocently, hoping to remove the interruption and pursue the moment he'd been waiting for.

"Hmm." Kagura grunted.

She woke up at the noise and rolled over before throwing her pillow at Shinpachi too, who dodged it but failed to notice the blanket on the floor, causing him to slip and fall to the ground.

"Thanks for the wake up call, Megane. What's for lunch?" Kagura said in the middle of her yawn.

* * *

During their meal together, Gintoki questions Kagura's whereabouts yesterday night. Maybe it was the fact that she had grown enough to gain the attention of suitors or maybe it was the fact that he was scared of Umibouzu, but he had become more and more overbearing as she grew older. Today was no exception.

Kagura quickly slurped her miso soup after casually mentioning that she had eaten her dinner with Sou-kun at the soba shop, placing their orders under Gintoki's growing tab.

"I haven't even paid for last month's amount and you already added twenty more bowls on top of that!"

Kagura took this time to grab her umbrella and dash for the hallway. She slipped into her shoes and slid the door open, still listening to Gintoki's last words.

"I'll be knee-deep in debt even after I die! My last will and testament will only have debt! Is that what you want?"

"I never expected anything different coming from you, cheapskate! You're spending more money on Tsukki than on our food!" She responded.

"Again. What's with the moon?" Shinpachi asked.

She ignored Megane and slammed the door behind her. She didn't hate the fact that they were together, she just wanted a little more spending money on food. Sadaharu's barks were still heard by Kagura as she made her way down the stairs.

"Sorry Sadaharu! Get Gin-chan or Megane to walk you today! I'm busy!"

Sou-kun secretly followed after her. He wanted to make it up to her today. In order to match with her long strides, he hurried down the stairs, but miscalculated the distance of the last step, losing his balance. He gave a short cry in pain when he realized that he sprained his ankle. Sou-kun cursed his short legs. Hearing his voice, Kagura turned back, worried about him.

"What happened?"

"It's nothing. Just stepped on your dog's poop."

"Really?" Kagura took hold of the unsullied foot from his hands and lightly put pressure on Sou-kun's ankle. He attempted to stifle a cry from his throat without any luck. "Tell me what you're up to or I'll do it again. Much harder."

Sou-kun couldn't help but smirk inwardly. It was funny how the tables had turned and that he was finally at China's mercy. This was just one of the many qualities he admired about her.

The more time he spent with her, the more he realized how much of a match they were. No wonder he felt attracted to her. He also admitted that he kind of liked it when she was in control, not that he'd ever tell her that. He had a back-up plan ready to use as his excuse.

"I wanted to give you your wallet." He pulled out a wallet from his kimono. It had a few bills in it when he peeked inside and the outside was pretty worn out.

"I don't have a wallet."

"Then, whose is this?"

"It's Gin-chan's, but he'll never know that." Kagura smiled from ear to ear, she was craving some sukonbu at the moment and the heavens had just granted her wish.

At this point, Sou-kun knew he chose the right woman to obsess with. Their thoughts synchronized far better than anyone he's ever met. There was no way he was letting her out of his sight, especially after she's developed so well.

"C'mon. Let's go to the hospital, but if I see the sukonbu store or any 'Hiring Now' posters on the way, we'll need to take some detours."

Kagura wrapped an arm around his waist and settled him in an upright sitting position on her shoulder while Sou-kun held the umbrella for the both of them.

"Onward, horsey!" Sou-kun pointed forward.

"Watch it brat! Call me onee-sama!" Kagura warned while pinching his ear.

* * *

They had just exited the sukonbu store that Kagura frequently visited, when they saw a "Hiring Now" sign beside Katsura's Wanted poster on one of the street's wooden poles which carried the city's electricity.

Kagura was eager to look at the location of the shop when she found herself flat on her back. Her umbrella a foot away and the Sadist on top of her, wearing clothes that were far too small on him as if he used the dryer on his new clothes and they had shrunk in the wash.

"Oi, China. That's a good look for you. Being underneath me, that is."

Kagura was stunned, speechless even. She wasn't sure what just happened. Once second she had the kid on her shoulder and the next, Sadist shows up in his place.

"Never mind that, Sadist. Let's fight another time. Where did that little boy Sou-kun go? He was with me just a second ago." Kagura worried about him.

"Baka~. You're so dense. Was your body the only thing that grew after four years? Use your brain."

She tried to recall the events, noting the familiar set of clothes.

"You're wearing the same clothes as the kid. No way! You couldn't be-"

"Spit it out already." Sougo rushed her.

"You were in the middle of an undercover mission as a child and used Goku's instant transmission technique to teleport yourself to somewhere safe by unlocking your ki."

He shook his head, using his index and middle finger to massage the middle of his forehead. He wondered what Danna had been teaching the girl.

"See. You're doing it, right now! You're concentrating to unlock your ki."

"No, it's just your idiocy that's making me get a headache. I'm obviously Sou-kun. I just drank a youth potion and turned into a kid. It seems like the amount of glasses I drank is the time limit of the potion."

Kagura thought that it seemed stranger than her Dragonball Z reference. Once his words sank in, she blushed at the thought of them bathing and sleeping together, but then wondered if he had simply used her innocence as entertainment yesterday.

"So, did you enjoy toying with my feelings?" She asked, scared to hear his response.

"If you don't believe me. Then, just listen to what I'm going to say next. I'll only say this once. If you miss it, I'll never say it again."

Just then a series of noises emerged, completely blocking out his words. Katsura had just hijacked Gintoki's motorcycle and a series of Shinsengumi cars were following him, each with their own set of sirens and megaphones blaring. Right behind them was Gintoki and Shinpachi who were being dragged by Sadaharu as they yelled out incoherent words at each other. Kagura only managed to hear the start of Sougo's sentence, "Dai-".

"Are you telling me to die?" Kagura yelled.

"Oh, screw words."

Sougo leaned in to kiss her. They do say that actions speak louder than words. Plus, he had been holding onto the urge to kiss her since he saw her last week and this morning. This time, he wasn't going to let her get away with a head-butt.

"Now, you're my idiot." He claimed, breaking up the long kiss to take in more oxygen. "And the only job you have is to satisfy me."

"You must really enjoy breaking the law, forcing yourself on a minor." She teased. He flicked her forehead after that retort.

"I can't break the law. I am the law."

* * *

Helpful Note:

1) **Old Hag** refers to Otose

2) **Tsukki** is Kagura's nickname for Tsukuyo, but **Tsuki** means "moon" in japanese so that's why Shinpachi misheard it and asked about the moon.

3) During Okita's confession, he was trying to say " **Daisuki** " = I really like you

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading till the end. I've also fixed my spelling errors. Comments are always welcome too! Liked it? Hated it? Bit of both?


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